JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.-Questioning legality of the judgment whereby Division Bench of Patna High Court directed acquittal of 9 respondents, this appeal has been filed by the informant. Originally there were 15 accused persons and 5 of them were acquitted by the trial court. They were accused Nos. 9 to 13. The convicted accused persons filed appeals before the Patna High Court. Crl. Appeal No. 485/ 89 was filed by 9 accused persons, while Crl. Appeal No. 521/89 was filed by one accused.

2. Accusations which formed foundation for the prosecution case are as follows:-

For Nawal Kishore Jha (hereinafter referred to as the deceased ), 9.4.1980 was the last day in this earth. He allegedly suffered homicidal death at the hands of the accused persons. There was longstanding enmity between Rajendra Jha (A-6) and one Deo Chandra Jha and there were several rounds of litigations between them. Raj Kishore Jha (PW 15) was going with the deceased for a walk in their village towards the chowk. They found Bundeo Jha (A-1), Bindeshwar Jha, Rajendra Jha (A-6), Arjun Jha (A-2), Lalo Jha (A-3), Daya Nand Jha (A-7), Parmanand Jha (A-15), Arjun Jha (A-14), Gopal Jha (A-4), Madananand Jha (A-8) and o